Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Ljubljana / Gala hala / Slovenia
Concert date: 06/19/2011
Attendance: 200
In the beginning there was (thrash) metal. And there was punk/hardcore. They always eyed each other a bit sideways, but secretly they always had a thing for each other. The innocent flirting led to shy hand-holding. Then to fumbling around in the back seat of a car, and finally to some passionate going at it, which gave birth to a punky mix of thrash metal and hardcore: crossover. Some of the most prominent and important representatives of the genre were actually set up by its founders, Dirty Rotten Imbecils, or D.R.I. for short. After seven years, the legendary Texans returned to the scene of the crime, Gala hala in Ljubljana!
But before that, the temperature in Gala hala was cranked up by local thrashers Eruption, who debuted their new lineup: Borut Rampih was replaced behind the kit by Ivan “Tegla” Cepanec. In a stormy set the guys played the already well-known tracks from their debut Lifeless Paradise, and mixed in some new creations that point toward a new record. Eruption did more than a good job, and this was probably even one of the best gigs by this thrash outfit that I’ve seen. It’s always a real treat to watch guitarist Tim during an Eruption set, because he totally gets lost in the music and plays his axe so convincingly, as if he’d been fused with it since birth. The band is also tightly drilled overall, the good sound played into their hands, and Tegla brought fresh energy to the band. If Strigo drummed very elegantly, with well-thought-out transitions and plenty of embellishments, Tegla is a more direct but far more aggressive drummer who really isn’t afraid to give the skins a proper beating. And as always he proudly showed off his one-pack, hehe. While we already know the album tracks well, the band’s new songs are more of a mystery, and two of them were played live for the first time tonight. What was especially nice to hear is that Eruption are no longer so firmly cemented in cliché thrash, which was nicely signaled by the “Forbidden-esque” mid-tempo number Unparticled Matter and the crusher Celestial God. With much more elaborate vocal lines and even better arrangements, the new songs promise a lot. Eruption closed out their fiery set with Playing With Matches, and D.R.I. bassist Harald Oimoen showed his approval of their music too, dancing up in front of the stage for a moment during their performance.
And then, finally, the members of this American crossover band stepped up under the instantly recognizable D.R.I. logo, the “Skanker Man”. They started out playing strictly punk and hardcore, but with their third studio album, Crossover, they grew their hardcore roots together with strong thrash metal influences, and so gave the new genre its name. The only original members of the band, which has been going for thirty years (with a break of a few years in between, during which guitarist Spike Cassidy was treated for cancer), are now vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy. Standing front and center beside them, still with his grimaces and posing, is a kind of band mascot, bassist Harald Oimoen. D.R.I. bet on uncompromising directness, and that’s exactly the kind of straight shot we got right in the nose. The moment Spike Cassidy dragged the first notes across the strings, chaos broke out below the stage. From the opening Beneath the Wheel on, there was nonstop stage diving and moshing, which only let up when the band took a breather on stage too. D.R.I. fired off one crusher after another (Snap, Thrashard, Mad Man, Couch Slouch, Violent Pacification), rolling along over the punky, Dead Kennedys-style bass lines Harald kicked the songs off with, Cassidy’s crunchy guitar, and Brecht’s unmistakable snarl, which makes D.R.I. what they are. An unstoppable crossover force that isn’t slowing down despite the members’ age and the fact that Cassidy beat a nasty cancer; the band’s energy on stage is still the real deal. This time, though, D.R.I. did miss the mark a little, since they played the songs in chunks: three, four, five tracks in a row, and then the band started faffing about, clowning around pointlessly and lighting up smokes, so the crazy intensity of the show swung up and down like a sine wave. Apart from this “weaker” stretch, D.R.I. once again threw an excellent, sweaty sauna of a party for punks, hardcore kids, skins and metalheads. And I hope they finally manage to record a new album, which we’ve been waiting for for so long!
Photos: Nina Grad
Setlist
ERUPTION: 1. Democracy 2. Celestial God 3. Monumental Mind 4. Self Caged 5. Unparticled Matter 6. The Auditors 7. Electrifried 8. Playing With Matches
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